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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29457525">Your Turn</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste_treecat/pseuds/celeste_treecat'>celeste_treecat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Warriors - Erin Hunter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Comfort, Friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:41:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,233</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29457525</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste_treecat/pseuds/celeste_treecat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The storm has passed, but Alderheart still lingers in its echoes.  The young Medicine Cat has done all he can for his clanmates.  Now it's time for an old friend to return the favor.</p>
<p>(A brief comfort scene.  Contains spoilers for A Vision of Shadows).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Your Turn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote a friend-comfort fic on a romantic holiday.  So what? That's just how I roll.   Still hoping I can get these characters' voices down.  We don't see inside Alderheart's head as much after AVoS, but it feels like he's got one paw in confidence and one stuck in doubt.  Even when you conquer these voices, they never stay quiet for long.  But when a friend manages to reach out and catch you, those moments make all the difference.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alderheart felt a warm pelt brush against his own.  He tried to snap his eyelids open but they came up in a fitful flutter, fighting the tug of fatigue that had finally carried him off to sleep.  A slow purr tickled between his ears, making them flit in irritation until he finally had the awareness to leap up and away from his nest.</p>
<p>He narrowed his eyes at the cat that had invaded his space, then stepped back in surprise as he saw the star-speckled pelt of a familiar gray cat.  "Needletail," he breathed.</p>
<p>"The one and only," she mrowed, brushing back one of her ears.</p>
<p>Alderheart's chest warmed with the sight of his friend, and then pricked with fear.  Darktail's passing had left a shadow over the clans that lingered even after the storm had faded.  A frail peace had set in, but just barely—was Starclan already approaching with another warning?</p>
<p>"They would be so lucky," Needletail scoffed, as if reading his thoughts.  "No.  Nothing moves in the shadows today."</p>
<p>"Then what are you doing here?" Alderheart asked.  </p>
<p><i>You don't deserve to see her.</i>  The thought bubbled out from behind his words, and he tried to bite it back.</p>
<p>Needletail shrunk away, giving a look of mock hurt.  She turned about, gesturing along lakeside.  Unlike his nest in the medicine den, the warmth breath of Greenleaf wreathed the shoreline.  Alderheart flinched from the lake, expecting to see visions of cats swallowed up in a dark tide, but the waters remained still.  Stars sparkled in the sky above and in the reflection on the surface, and the scents of fresh prey and sweet flowers drifted along from the meadows.</p>
<p>"Sneaking out to check on my favorite cats," Needletail went on.  "Violetshine and Twigbranch are settling into their new lives well.  They're happy."</p>
<p>"Good," purred Alderheart. "Those two deserve nothing else."</p>
<p>"And so do you," said Needletail.  She nipped his shoulder, causing him to jump back, his tail fluffed.  "Yet every time I look on down from high, what do I see?   This mouse-brain."</p>
<p>The cat circled back around where they had risen, showing Aldertail's body still curled in his nest.  His paws pressed over his nose and eyes, as if they could somehow block out the thoughts that crept into his head like thorns poking from the moss.  The last few moons replayed in his head, over and over, as he tried to find the right words and the right steps to spare the clans their suffering. His tail twitched anxiously, and the only thing that seemed to silence the battles in his head was pure exhaustion.</p>
<p>"Everything that went wrong was because of me," Alderheart murmured, lowering his head as the deluge of thoughts poured into his voice.  "Starclan sent the wrong cat.  That should be more than obvious to you now."</p>
<p>"Mouse-brain," Needletail repeated, more gently this time, pressing her nose against Alderheart's chest.  "The clans are whole.  Violetshine and Twigbranch are grown up and well along their way.  Do you think Puddleshine could have brought back Skyclan?  <i>Jayfeather?</i>"</p>
<p>"I could have tried harder," said Alderheart.  "I could have made Bramblestar listen.  Or I could have gone with you so the kits didn't have to be separated. If only I'd read the signs more carefully... I would have done the right thing.  I wouldn't have lost you."</p>
<p><i>You're the reason she joined the Kin</i>, he thought miserably.  <i>You're the reason bad things happen to the cats you care about.</i></p>
<p>"You couldn't make me do anything different," Needletail spat.  "Darktail was after the clans before you were even born.  That's Onestar's mouse to chase, and he paid the price for it."</p>
<p>"But I--"</p>
<p>"Stop trying to take all of our problems onto your shoulders," she hissed,  "or I am going to come down here every night and claw the <i>fluff</i> out of you until you do."</p>
<p>Alderheart's eyes widened, his breath caught until he caught the glint of mirth in her gaze.  She rolled her clawtips along the ground and gave one of the wicked points a flash in front of his nose.  "My ending isn't going to be a happy one if it means I have to watch you spend your whole life torturing yourself."</p>
<p>"That's not fair," said Alderheart, turning and padding away.  "I can't stop it.  I can't get rid of this voice in my head that says that it's all because of me..."</p>
<p>"Then talk to the cats who can stop it," said Needletail, pacing after him.  "I made every wrong turn, but I did it on my own.  And in the end I knew who I loved, and who loved me.  That's why I was able to go without any regrets."</p>
<p>The gray cat touched her tail to his shoulder.  "Do I deserve to be forgiven, Alderheart?  Do I deserve to be loved?"</p>
<p>"Of course you do!" Alderheart answered without hesitation.</p>
<p>"Then so do you."</p>
<p>Alderheart did not reply.  His tail swept from side to side and his eyes watered with tears.  He let out a low, mournful yowl that carried across the water, and then another, more soft.  Needletail did not tease, did not chastise, and leaned in against him in silence as he let out his grief.  As the reflection of the moon shifted in the lake, Alderheart became aware of the calming of his heart and the passage of time.</p>
<p>"Most Starclan cats usually vanish by now," he observed.</p>
<p>"I do what I want," meowed Needletail.  "Unless you want me to go?"</p>
<p>"No," said Alderheart.  "Please stay.  Just a little longer."</p>
<p>Needletail laughed and drew her tail back around his flanks.  They pressed together in the dream space, finding stillness in an existence that never seemed to stop whirling about them.  If other Starclan cats could sense them, they did not approach, remaining little more than shapes in the distant mist.  </p>
<p>"Promise me you'll say something to them," she whispered, breaking the silence.  "You're all awful at it, but you do care about each other.  They'll help you."</p>
<p>"I promise," Alderheart said, his ears hot with flush.  He circled his tail back around Needletail, provoking a mischievous glance and a cuff on the shoulder from the she-cat.</p>
<p>"And if you tell anyone about the sappy stuff I said, I'm going to haunt you forever," she hissed. "Even after you come here.  I will be on you like that burr on Graystripe's butt."</p>
<p>Alderheart made a face, sticking his tongue out and stretching his jaws wide.  He also did not promise, only smirking at Needletail until their tender sidle broke into a series of shoves and swats.  Then they fell into a clumsy tangle of fluff, pouncing and winding against each other like kits until the only thing that remained in their thoughts was laughter and mischief.  </p>
<p>He wasn't sure when the dream ended, or when the voices in his head grew quiet.  Needletail did not scamper off at the first whisper of protest, like most Starclan cats, but the dream ended as all dreams inevitably do.  </p>
<p>Alderheart stirred and stretched in his nest, glancing across the den to where Jayfeather slept.  As the warmth of morning starts to creep in beneath the ivy, he felt a muzzle nudge against his back and a whisper in his ear.</p>
<p>
  <i>You've done so much for them.  It's your turn to let them take care of you.</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aaauh, I really like the idea of Needletail flouting the expectations of Starclan and continuing to act as a sort of renegade guardian angel to the cats she cares about.   I also just want to see more of these two.</p>
<p>Don't know if I'll write more Needletail, but I'd like to explore more of the relationships that got left in the background.  Expect shipping in the future, shenanigans, and I'll probably post my own original battle catte tales after a while.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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